vote

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Newly elected state Sen. Joe Hardy, R-Boulder City, has requested the drafting of legislation to repeal Nevada’s minimum wage law.

By Nevada News Bureau staff
CARSON CITY – An initiative petition proposed by Gov. Jim Gibbons to require public employee union negotiations to be subject to Nevada’s Open Meeting Law will not be turned in Tuesday.
Gibbons said his OPEN Government Plan will be introduced as a bill in the 2011 legislative session instead.

Assemblyman John Oceguera, D-Las Vegas, has been unanimously elected as Speaker for the upcoming legislative session.
Oceguera has served as majority leader under former Speaker Barbara Buckley, who could not run again because of term limits.
The vote of the 26-member Democratic caucus on Wednesday will be formalized on the first day of the legislative session on Feb. 7.

Carson City Republican Pete Livermore has won the Nevada Assembly District 40 race against Democrat Robin Williamson, costing the party a crucial seat against Republican Governor-elect Brian Sandoval.

Livermore received 51.42 percent of the vote in Carson City and within a sliver of Washoe Valley. Williamson had 48.58 percent of the vote.

"I'm humbled and grateful that so many have shown trust for me," Livermore said. "I'm eager to get started so we can get people back to work."

Leaders in early voting (percentage of the vote)

Sheriff:
Kenny Furlong 62.8

Supervisors Ward 1:
Karen Abowd 52.28

Supervisor Ward 3
John McKenna 64.18

School Board District 1
Ron Swirczek 50.3

School Board District 6
Barbara Meyers 54

Assessor
Dave Dawley 78

School Bond 53.6

State questios
1: no 65.25
2: no 61
3: no 68
4: no 71

Early voting totals from the Carson City Clerk's office show that more than half of registered Republicans and Democrats have already voted early or sent in absentee ballots.

There were 5,235 Republicans who voted early, with another 770 who sent in absentee ballots, out of a total of 11,195 who are registered to vote. For Democrats, 3,920 voted early with 529 absentee ballots, out of 8,699 registered.

Of the 4,843 registered voters not affiliated with Democrats or Republicans, only 1,627 voted early, and 186 absentee.

Before you vote, stop by Massage Envy at 933 Topsy Lane #422 for the Carson City Chamber of Commerce Breakfast Club.
Stop by for coffee and a relaxed atmosphere beginning at 7:30 a.m.The cost is $5 for members, $15 for non-members.

The Appeal's Brian Duggan has a story that a new study commissioned by the Nugget Project developer shows a hotel and events center could be feasible and lure convention business to Carson City.

This seems to conflict with P3 Development's presentation to the citizens advisory committee last month, where the developer said the hotel would not be feasible for at least five years.

By Guy W. Farmer

After Carson Nugget President Steve Neighbors accused me of basing my opposition to the Nugget Bailout Project (aka the City Center Project) on “conjecture and false innuendo” in last Tuesday’s Appeal, I asked former mayors Ray Masayko and Marv Teixeira for their opinions on this dubious project. Both Masayko and Teixeira, who were political rivals in recent years, raised serious questions about the $80 million project, which would put nearly $40 million tax dollars at risk during an economic recession and
impose an additional one-eighth-cent sales tax.

Boy Mr. Farmer and Mr. Joiner must have struck a very sensitive nerve with Mr. Neighbors. Steve Neighbors had a commentary article a week before Guy Farmers article telling us how concerned he is for Carson City's future. He proceded to tell us who he would vote for if he lived here. He endorsed Williamson and Abrowd (both for the Nugget Bail Out Project), but did not list any other issues (School Board candidates, School Bond, Governors race ect). Keep up the Good work Farmer and Joiner in making Neighbors accountable for all the facts not just the facts that benefit the Nugget.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
RENO – Secretary of State Ross Miller said today there have been no complaints filed with his office about suspicious voter activity despite email rumors and media accounts that at least some electronic voting machines are pre-programmed to support U.S. Senate candidate Harry Reid, D-NV.

I'm a taxpayer who has lived here for 20 years and my dream is not the same dream Mae Adams and her trustees dreams are!

I have a problem with a Boise, Idaho resident like Steve Neighbors telling me what's best for Carson City. We are already in the NEGATIVE with other projects (Pony Express and V&T). We have experts say that in this economy it might not be the best thing to start a new project. I kind of would like to see the "pay as you go, and if you cant pay, then don't go" theory when it comes down to tax payers footing more projects.

The Carson City Board of Supervisors today approved $106,255 plus a 5 percent contingency to fund the Arlington Square ice rink for the coming season.

Parks and Recreation Director Roger Moellendorf said they are looking at leasing to own the ice rink equipment this year, thus reducing the cost for future years, and the contingency was requested to account for the additional costs.

The item was originally discussed two weeks ago and postponed because the supervisors preferred the ice rink be funded through redevelopment funds rather than the general fund.

At the Carson City Board of Supervisor meeting going on right now, Office of Business Development Director Joe McCarthy announced that a new Olive Garden restaurant will be going into the Southgate Center on South Carson Street.

Olive Garden has agreed to a land lease, conditioned upon the developer of the shopping center filling the other empty stores. On that point, the new Big Lots store will open next month, and Big 5 Sports will be moving into the other space from their current, smaller location on North Carson Street.

(Updated at 11:45 a.m. on Oct. 21, 2010, to include Gov. Gibbons comments.)
Questionable attack ads and the role of the federal government in job creation were the top issues in an energized debate Wednesday between Rep. Dina Titus and Republican challenger Joe Heck in one of the most closely watched house races of the Nov. 2 general election.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – U.S. Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., is defending his decision to seek stimulus money on behalf of constituents and Nevada government entities despite voting against the massive funding measure in February 2009.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – While concerns have emerged elsewhere this campaign season about encouraging people to vote by offering free food, a state election official says Nevada law is not excessively restrictive on the practice.

Hundreds made their way to the Carson City Courthouse today, the first day for early voting in Nevada.

A record number of people could be voting in this election, said Alan Glover, Carson City Clerk-Recorder.

"I think it's going to be high again, just like 08. I see maybe a 90 percent turnout when this is done," Glover said. "I think the Senate race is cranking them out."

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – A national group that supports judicial restraint is opposing a measure on the Nevada ballot to change the way judges are selected from direct elections to appointment and retention.
The Judicial Crisis Network also presented a survey of Nevada voters’ views on the change that shows a majority oppose the idea of appointing instead of electing members of the state Supreme court.

HENDERSON, Nev. – The Henderson Chamber of Commerce’s IMPAC Committee has announced its support of ballot questions 3 and 5.

IMPAC serves as a comprehensive, non-partisan political committee that contributes to the creation of a favorable business climate in Henderson as it relates to issues at the state and local level.

Those registered voters who don't want to wait until Election Day, Nov. 2, to cast their ballots can do so daily beginning Saturday and ending Oct. 29.
Voters can go to the Carson City Courthouse, 885 E. Musser Street to vote. The hours are as follows:
Saturday, Oct. 16 and Oct. 24, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Monday through Friday, Oct. 18-22, and Oct. 25-29, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Click here for more information.

CARSON CITY – State Senate Minority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, today announced he is supporting Democrat Harry Reid in his U.S. Senate race against GOP challenger Sharron Angle.

Nevada News Bureau staff
CARSON CITY – The number of active registered voters in Nevada grew by 14,770 in September, nearly double the new registrations added in August, the secretary of state’s office reported today.

Dave Dawley talks about his reelection campaign for Carson City Assessor:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBWY3-rMadc

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – With the Nevada campaign season kicking into high gear in the four weeks remaining before election day, candidates and their supporters are also starting to focus on what could mean the difference between victory and defeat: voter turnout.

Carson City's primary arts service organization has a new executive director. John M. Shelton was hired this week by the board of directors as the Brewery Art Center's leader and executive director.

CARSON CITY – Nevada state Assemblyman Ed Goedhart, R-Amargosa Valley, said today he will voluntarily file his campaign contribution and expense report before early voting begins to give the public adequate time to review the information.
Goedhart, who is running for re-election, said he is joining with Secretary of State Ross Miller in filing his report well ahead of the deadline now in state law.

The chief justice of Texas’ Supreme Court said at a forum last week that he supported a ballot measure before Nevada voters to change the way judges are chosen. A legal scholar from Vanderbilt University argued against the measure at the same forum, held at the Boyd School of Law on the campus of UNLV.
Both brought unique perspectives. Texas is a state that elects its judges who collect campaign donations from those who may appear before them creating bright-line conflicts-of-interest.

By Nevada News Bureau staff
Republican Congressional candidate Joe Heck said today he expects the race between him and incumbent Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., to be decided by no more than 2 percentage points in the November general election.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau